Tod Machover (MIT Media Lab) is a man who shares my afflictions of fast talking and love for interacting with music. This past March, Tod gave an inspiring talk at the TED conference about the power of creating and performing music as a medium for self-expression.
Just in case you get lost in his whirlwind, here are his three main points:
“Music is even more powerful if you don’t just listen to it but you make it yourself.”
“[Music] is transformative … music can change your life more than almost anything.”
“[Music] is one of the best ways of showing who we really are … it is one of the most powerful interfaces we have to the outside world.”
Like Tod, we believe that music is more than just a rigid set of skills. Anyone can interact with music and extract its benefits— it just takes the right approach.
To showcase this point, Tod invited Dan Ellsey, a composer with cerebral palsy, to perform his piece aided with technology created especially for him. (Dan’s performance starts at 17:40 in the above video.)
Thanks for stopping by NYMG.org! If this is your first time here, here’s a little background on what we’re all about…
We’ve heard way too many stories over the years of friends who abandoned instruments the second their parents stopped making them practice… and spent years glancing at a case in the back of their closet with a faint (or not so faint) sense of dread. For every one of us that kept playing, there are a dozen who still refuse to do anything more than download another song to their iPod.
That got us to thinking: what would it take to keep music OUT of the closet?
And the answer was clear: music education needed to make the leap from lesson plans… to lifelong journey.
By fostering a genuine love of music — instead of just logging hours — our experienced, accomplished teachers take students on a discovery process they won’t find anywhere else. We’re not afraid to have fun, to entertain, to try new things, to make the process personal… all while creating a solid foundation of skill and knowledge without the blood, sweat and tears of traditional programs. Why turn music into a chore or an obligation when it’s supposed to be a living, breathing part of everyday life?
If you want to help your kids express their creativity and passion without “ruler to the knuckles” memories, we’re here to make the experience rewarding and comfortable for them from Day One. If you’ve always dreamed of picking up an instrument, but couldn’t find a program to fit your schedule or your lifestyle, we can work with you to make that dream come true.
If you just found your old violin and wish you even remembered how to HOLD the thing… well, we can help you do one better.
Give us a call or drop us an email — we’d love to answer your questions or get you started today (or even just hear the story about your crazy piano teacher from the third grade).
